Under the auspices of The Society of General Physiologists, a symposium is planned for September 12-16, 1976 at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. This will be a "satellite" symposium of the First International Congress on Cell Biology, to be held in Boston September 5-10. Our symposium will examine in detail the recent advances in the field of cell and tissue interactions. There have been many recent advances in the area of cell and tissue interactions, and four interrelated areas will constitute the program. (1) Cell and tissue interactions and their role in developmental processes; (2) the role of extracellular matrix components in interacting systems; (3) the nature of the cell surface and plasmalemma and their transformations; and (4) the relation of the above mentioned topics to the transfer of information, including the possible role of second messengers. The program will be in four morning sessions. Afternoon sessions will consist of contributed papers. The invited papers will be published by Raven Press in approximately six months.